Planet 'Paralyzed'
Before Power Shifts in Washington and Beijing (Die Tageszeitung,
Germany)

"In Beijing,
the nation's most powerful leaders will meet just as the next U.S. president is
being chosen. For the first time in history, in the two most powerful nations, fundamental
political decisions are being made simultaneously. At the moment, anything is
possible. As long as the die remains uncast in Washington and Beijing, the rest
of the world seems doomed to watch and wait. ... It is appalling to see the
world in suspended animation, just because the two most powerful nations are
busy with themselves."

Poker face: Xi Jinping, about to be annointed China's supreme leader, has no challenger - that we know of. Nevertheless, Beijing's power transition, which occurs every ten years, has not gone smoothly, so people around the world are biting their nails, nonetheless.

On November 6th, the United States will elect their new
president. Two days later, China's ruling Communist Party will hold its 18th Congress.
Just a few months ago, both events were checked off as largely predictable:
Barack Obama would remain U.S. president, while China's communists will follow
a well-prepared transition to a new party chairman, Xi Jingping. But all of a
sudden, the U.S. election is wide open, and recent power struggles within the
Chinese Communist Party have shown cracks in its monolithic surface.

Thus, the Americans and Chinese have quite unintentionally left
the world in a state of paralyzing uncertainty. In Beijing, the nation's most powerful
leaders will meet just as the next U.S. president is being chosen. For the
first time in history, in the two most powerful nations, fundamental political
decisions are being made simultaneously. At the moment, anything is possible. As
long as the die remains uncast in Washington and Beijing, the rest of the world
seems doomed to watch and wait.

In every one of the world's political hotspots, things have
come to a standstill. Be it Syria or climate change, the E.U.
crisis or the Arab Spring: determined political initiatives are nowhere in
sight. Meanwhile, the ravages of counterproductive austerity measures are devastating
Europe's Mediterranean countries, the most dynamic emerging economies, such as those
in Brazil and India, look poised to sink into a quagmire of domestic scandal, and
desperate civil wars from Afghanistan to the Congo may intensify.

As far as ongoing issues like Iran's nuclear program, the
Middle East conflict, global free trade and global poverty reduction, what is
being done is as good as nothing. With the credit crunch and an investment backlog,
global financial markets are treading water, Europe is turned in on itself,
politicians around the world appear incapable of dealing with widening social
divisions and the lack of bipartisan communication between power blocs.

Of course, the selection of new leaders in the U.S. and China
cannot resolve these problems. But they may overcome an international mental
block, which is now making it difficult if not hopeless to think about the
future. It is appalling to see the world in suspended animation, just because
the two most powerful nations are busy with themselves.